Rotary engine.



No, 726,996. l PATENTED MAY 5, 1903.-

y E. A, FRANZN.:

Rotlngfml ENGINE. 5 MPL10-T101? 'FILED nomas. 1901. No- Mu'mzn. e',snETS-SHBET -1.

PATENTE-D MAY 5, 1903 P. A. PRANZ'EN. ROTARY ENGINE.

APPLIUATION FILED NOV. 23, 1901.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

N0 MODEL No. 726mm. PATENTED MAY 5, 190s. P. A. PRANZEN. ROTARY ENGINE.I APPLIGATION FILED NOV. 23, 1901.

N0 MODEL.

#eV/Z,

No. 726,896. y PATENTBD MAY 5, '1903. F. A. PRANZN. ROTARY ENGINE.APPLIUATION FILED IGV. 23.1901.

B SHEETS-SHEET 41.

N0 MODEL.

No; 726,896; PETENTBJJ MAY 5, 190s.

E. A, PRANZN. no TARY ENGINE,

A-PPLIUATION nun mines. 1901,..

-v @SHEETS-SHEET 5.

and

No. 726.896. PATENTED MAY 5,1903.

I'. A; .FRANZEN ROTARY ENGNB.

. FABRICATION FILED nov. 23, 199;.

UNITED STATES Patented may s,

' ATENT ()nnitzn.`

-lPO-NTUS ERLAND FAHLBECK, OF LUND,'SW'EDEN.

ROTARY ENGIN s.

srncrncnrron forming para of Letters Patent No. 726,896, dated may 5,1903. o i

S'- n Application iiled November 23, .1991. Serial No. 83,460. (llomodel.) v Y A To dll whom it may concern.: j' y YBe it known that l,FRANS AUGUST FRAN- ZEN, a suhject'of the King of Sweden and Nor way,residing at Lund, Sweden, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Rotary Engines; and "I do hereby declare the followingtothe a full, clear, and exact description ofthe invention, such as willenable othl ers skilled in the art to which it appertains lo to make anduse the'same, reference being had p to the accompanying drawings, and toletters and figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part ofthis specification.-

- .The present invention relates to rotary engines', and comprises anouter wheel having a 1 plurality of buckets or. cylinders thereon andone'or more smaller piston-wheels eccentrictjallylocatedwithin the outerwheel, whose pis- 'tons'successively enter successively-presentao ed.buckets or cylinders.

` t The invention further comprises details of construction fullydescribed in the following pecication jand particularly pointed out intheclaims.

# *Referring to the drawings, in whichli-ke .partsaresimilarlydesignated, Figure 1 is a 'cross-section of one form of engine embodyingmy invention. vFiga 2 is a longitudinal sectiontaken at right angles toFig. l. l'fig.l

'36 l3 is' alongitudinal section of a inodication. Fig.4 is afragmentary sectional View show-- ing a modified form of a piston-wheel.Fig. 5 is a View showing three pistons. Fig. 6 is a cross-section, andFig. 7 a longitudinal sec- 5 tion, showing apIuraIty of piston-wheelscapable of cooperating with a single outer wheel; and Fig. 8 is afragmentary sectional View ot 'a modiiication showing intermediatepacking elements fr.. L 4o The casing or jacket a, constituting at thesame time the frame of the engine,` is prof vided on lone side with acentral boss of' and Y preferably, though not necessarily, aatcover-plate a?, provided with-an eccentricallylocated boss ai andexhaust-passage o4.

easing, and rotates in the casing. The ri tn b Sfoq'ually-sp ced bucketsor cylinders o of any suitable co struction and form, either sepa--Jf''The bucket or cylinder wheel is secured` tor-slaft b2, jonrnaled inthe boss a of the.

xately secured thereto orcast' in one piece` l withsaid wheel, as shownin Figs. 3, 5, and 7.V lVithin the wheel b and eccentric to it is thecog or piston wheel, which consists of a rota'f 55A` table nave d, towhich are secured'` the cogs or pistons d in the form of spheresconnected'` by nbolts or Shanks d" to the nave. These pistons, as wellas their Shanks, have'a longif tudinal perforation or steam-passage da.l '5ol The 'shaft d4 in the boss assupportsavalyering Z, on which thenave ofthe piston-wheel rotates and through which steam 'is successively applied tothe several pistons asthey v come into operativeposition. vThis ring Zcon-l tains a segmental annular chamber m, thatisconnected with the steam-supply pipe Z and preferably formed in onepiece with the valve ring or slide. ln the valve-ring is an a'rcn ateport n, over which the inne;` ends ofthe 7o pistons travel during theirrotation to periodically register therewith to admit steafn at the vrequired point oftheir rotation through them to their cooperatingcylinders c to onel sidefo't" ,Y the tangent-point h of the pitch-linesof vtheir; two wheels. 2 ln order to place the piston-wheelin place, asshown in Fig. 2, three of the pistons are unscrewed from thenave of thewheel and that portion of the wheel turned toward the .8o buckets. Thewheel is then rotated to cause 'the remaining pistons to engage thebuckets,

whereby the portion which is free of pistons will be turned toward thecenter of the engine when the missing pistons can be screwed in place.

The relative sizes of the two wheels nnnstl be such that the radius ofone is a multiple of the radius of the other. For example, 'the diameterof wheel d must be one-half of tha-too of wheel b, reckoned from thepitch-lines f andg ofthe respective wheels and the number of pistonspreferably one-half ci. that of the cylinders or buckets.

'l On turning the .wheels the pistons. will, k95

`owing to their relative proportions, describe. straight radial linestoward the center ofthe,

wheel b, and the spherical heads of.,'the,'pis,. tons can thuspassthrough the eutire;.le txt g'ths,lY` f of the cylinders. Steamenters from the .pipe g roo Z tothe chamber m in the ring or distributeing .valve landA passes t'h roughthe portrn'andfuf .exhaust-pipe.

through the central passage d3 in that piston that is just to the rightof the tangentpoint h of the pitch-circles of the two wheels. steam thenacts between the piston and cylinder end and forces the piston outward`at the same ti me turning the piston-wheel, lwhich in'its turn acts onthe bucket or cylinder Wheel b, causing the engine to rotate toward theright. After the piston leaves'its respective cylinder, steam exhaustsinto the jacket or casing surrounding the engine and is led oli' eitherthrough the port a4 or a suitable The jacket is thus iilled withexhaust-steam, andthe pistons to the left of the tangent-point h as theyenter the buckets would compress the exhaust-steam in them, and to avoidthis I form in the ring Z two arcuate exhaust-passages p and p', theformer operative when' normally direct and the latter when runningreversed. These passages have a circumferential length sutlicient toallowl ter of the Wheel as will be permitted by the pistons d.

In order to reverse the direction of the engine, the ring-valve isturned toward the left so that it occupies the same-relative position onthe left of the tangent-point h, in which case the exhaust-passage p -isbrpught into operative position. To provide for the rotation of thering-Valve, there is a slot in the casing a, through which the pipe Zprojects, and covering the same and rigidly connected to the pipe is aslide. (Notshown'in the drawings.)

It desired, the pipe can project through the front wall a2 of the jacketanda suitable arcuate slot made in the-wall concentric with thering-valve. ering the slotv fits close to the casing and is ofsufficient size to cover-the slot whatever the position of the pipe lfis. The amount ot' steam admitted through the pistons, as well astheamount of'expansion, depends upon the relative position of thering-valve-that is, how far it is turned to one side or theotherof thetangent-point h.

Fig. 3 shows a ymodification of the engine in which the pistons aresolid; but the lsteam instead of beingl admitted between the cylinderend andpiston through the pistons themselves is admittedthroughtheclosed -ends of the cylinders, thus being admitted from theoutside.of,.the.wheels instead of from .their cent-ers. The bucket-wheelb' in this case is made solid and has a circular outer nerinh- The Ineither case the plate cov-,

ber s', to which the steam isled through pipe i., to which the slide 10is rigidly attached. The cylinders each receive steam through theirperforations u While passing under the inlet-valve port s', and theamount of steam admitted and the amount of expausion of the stearnwilldependupon the length of the port s' on each side of the centralinlet-pipe t. The slide s is illustrated as connected to areversing-lever s, one end of which is supported around a motor-shaft,the

object of which is to accurately guide the A slide in an arc of. acircle, Two vsuch arms may be employed, if desired, or in lieu of thismechanism the slide s may bemovedby a suitable bevel-gear operated byany suitable lever mechanism to move the slide along the circumferenceof the wheel b. This'rype of motor is convenient for practical use, es#pecially as the clearance is very small. of course obvious thatthepistons need not be spheres, but 1nay,as shown in Fig. 4, be cylin'-ders v, having their laxis parallel with that of the motor-shaft and-maybe supported by thin` plates o'. The cylinders orr buckets c must thenbe square or rectangular in cross-sectionsl It is A modification ofthistype of engine consists A of providing an intermediatereciprocablepacking element between the pistons and ends of the cylinders, whereby amore steam-tight fit is obtained between the cooperating palts,

and is intended for engines running at a low speed. In Fig. 8 I'haveshown three such elements in the form of cups x that increase thetangent-surfaces between the pistons and cylinders andare arranged so asnot to leave the cylinders. These cups fr: are maintained by centrifugalforce against the outerends of the cylinders, except during the passageet are forced inward by the steam and act on the pistons to rotatethe'wheels. the cups from being forced out of` the cylin- To preventIOS - the cylinder past the inlet-port s, when-they ders -into theinterior ot the wheel b-bythe A expansion of the steam and afterthe'pisto'ns have left the cylinders, I provide-a tkih s0.mewhat springyretaining ring or strip y on'the inner ends of the cylinders toformabuttiug-uv shoulders :02, against which the-cups may.

strike. The exhaust from the cylinders l/ takesplace through the ports uafter these ports. have.

passed, during the rotation of 'the wheelhh Forthis purpose the*`lengthlofqAl the slide is so'adjusted that exhaust will take; x s

the slide s.

Part of this ringo@ is shown in Fig. S.-

place a littlev be'fore the cups yft strikeptheil; shoulders x2,therebeing an eXhauSl-Spl S' L between the end of said slide andtheintelriorg"nl end wall of the offset. The length of, zhitllide`vl` 8 can'Abe-so adjusted that the cups W.ill .,strke the ring with little or noforce, and ein trifugal force immediatelycausethel,

operative positionin .theou'ter vided wit thiieepistonsand a packingdeo`,i yeach one. `Each packing device; o ifaspringy socket 7e, threadedonthe istons dand provided with aperfrati tp admitffsteani between thepack- -lhow a plurality of pistonng@ with Aa-sing'le cylinderl, A lissecylinders c are rectangular "in cross-"sec'ti andCQtain rectangularpacking deyices lia-ying yedges 0:3 turned toward the-center Ahe iyheel.The flanges'oc3 on the'eiids df,v Mese `pa'ckings a2' are set in fromthe edges toenable thein to pass the ring y.v 'lhe''diainterofthepitch-line of the pistonwheel is one-half of that of the cylinder orbucket wheel, whereby the pistons will move in a rectilinear direction,and vin this case, where two piston-wheels are used, as shown in saidFigs. G and 7, they are the same diameter, their pitch-lines would betangent to each other, andin order to enable them to operate thestructure shown in Figs. 6 and 7 is adopted, one of the vpiston-wheelspassing between two oppositely-situated parts of the other wheel. Asshown, one of the piston-Wheels is provided with duplicate pistons dsl,between which the cylindrical pistons d3 of the-other wheel can pass.The steam enters in the same manner as in Fig. 3 through twooppositely-arranged Valves s, one for each Wheel. The packin gs 9:are'forced inward, act upon the pistons to rotate the piston-wheels, andare stopped by. thel ring y, Athat is set as far in toward the center ofthe wheel asis permitted by the shafts lof the piston-wheels. In orderto permit the escape Vof steam` from the Y cylinders c into theinteriorof the outer Wheel,

there are cnt-away portionsr2 between ad jacent cylinders, the radialheight of said recesses or cut-away portions being slightly greaterth'anthat of the packings, so thatV .when the latter are seated on the ring ythere is sufficient space to allow the escape of steam from thecylinders. Another purpose of this recess r2 is to provide sufficientspace to allow the pistons to enter and withdraw from'the cylinders. j

Having thus described my said invention, what I claim as new therein,and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. In a rotary engine, a casing, an annular wheel journaled therein,buckets or cylinders arranged on its periphery, a piston-head movable'ineach cylinder and a piston-wheel eccentrically arranged to and lcooperating with said annularwheehand frneans to admit steam between theheads and cylindersl to cause the former to act on and rotate thepiston-wheel, substantially as described.

2. In a rotary engine, a casing, an annular' inder, ymeans tollimitthemovement of each ,piston-head, a piston-wheel journaled eccentrcally' tothe aforementioned one, a plurality of pistons thereon vadapted. tochterther openends of the cylinders.during` rotation,

t-o act kon the pistons of said wheel and rotate it, substantially asdescribed. i

. In a rotary engine, a casinegan 'annular wheel thereimfbnckets orcylinders arrangedA on the periphery of said wheel and open to-y 'andmeans to admit steam between the pisy ton-heads and'cylinders tocausethe former mentionedwheel, and means to supply stea\ml 4 betweenthe pistons and cylinders, substantially as described.` Y

4. In a rotary engine, a'cas'ing, an annula 85 wheel therein,Abuckets'or cylinders arranged on tlieperiphery of said wheel` and open'toward its center, a plurality of piston-wheels veccentric to lthefirst-mentioned wheel and cooperating therewith, and means to-admitsteam on either side-of the tangent points of the pitch-lines of saidcoperating" wheelsV 'and between the pistons of the piston-wheels andtheir cooperating buckets, substantially as described. 'y

5. In a rotaryengine, a casing, an annular v'heel journal/sd therein,buckets or cylinders on the periphery of said wheel, a piston-head 'ineach cylinder, apiston-wheel eccentric to the rst-mentioned wheel and'cooperating therewith, and means to admit steam to the outer ends of thecylinders .to canse the piston-heads to act on the piston-wheel,substantially as described.

6. I n a rotary engine, a casing, an annular wheel journaled therein,open-ended buckets or cylinders on the periphery thereof, a piston-headin each cylinder, means to prevent said heads from being driven vout oftheir cylinders, aplnrality of piston-Wheels eccentric to thefirst-mentioned one and coperating therewith, and means to admit steamto the' outer end of said cylinders to cause the piston-'heads to act onsaid piston-wheels, substantially as described.l

7. In a rotary engine, a easing, an annular wheel journaled'therein,buckets or cylinders secured to the periphery thereof and having one endopen toward the center of said Wheel, andy steam-ports inl theiropposite ends, a piston-head in each cylinder, means to prevent thepiston-heads from being driven out of their cylinders, two piston-wheelseccentric to the'iirst-mentioned Wheel and cooperating therewith, one ofsaidvwheels comprising a hub, pistons and a rod connecting the center ofeach piston with the hub, and the other comprising a hub, pistons androds to connect the pistons .with the hub, the pistons of one wheelcapable of passing between pairs of pistons of thev other wheel,andmeanslto admit steamto said cylinders to cause the piston-heads toacton the pistons of said piston wheels, substantially 'as described.I

no A

8. In a rotary engine, a casing, an annular tioned wheel and a pluralityof spherical pistons on said piston-Wheel to successively entersuccessively-presented buckets, substantially vas described. y

9j. Ina rotary engine, a casing, an annular wheel' therein, buckets orcylinders opening toWardfthe'f-center of4 said'wheel, a piston-Nheel'eccentric to and Within the first-mentioned wheel, pistons on saidpiston-Wheel, yielding metallic packing elementssecured on the'workingfaces of the pistons and means jtojadmit steam between the packingelements and piston icribed.

10. In a rotary engine, a casing, an'annular wheel therein, buckets orcylinders opening toward the center of said wheel, a piston- Wheeleccentricto and Within the -first-menends, substantially' as deopeningtoward the center of the Wheel, a

part conforming to the periphery of said annular4 Wheel and providedwith a chamber communicating with said' ports as they successively passsaid chamber, means to alter the relative l'peripheral position of saidpart and chamber, and means to supply motive fluid, substantially asdescribed.

' In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed'my name in presence of two subscribing witnesses. 4

FRANS AUGUST FRANZN.

Witnesses HILVING HESSLER, ANTON SORENSON.

